Patch 5.2 - New Frog Model and Pet Battle Tweets
Mumper shared the new Frog model on Twitter recently, and apparently people are excited! You can see the old frog model next to it for comparison. Only new frog pets will use this model, older ones will continue to use the older one.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Next PTR push, transferred characters will get a random set of 25 max level pets to test with. Aki quest also flagged complete. Should help! Transferring your actual pets is very challenging since we copy chars, not accounts. This solution works nice though. (Source)

The issue with mech and undead not proccing their rez is a known bug and we plan to fix it in 5.2.0 (Source)

CRZ and Scourged Whelpling... oops, amirite?
Your prayers have been answered. We made a dramatic reduction to the respawn timer on these in 5.2.0. (Source)

In 5.2 the respawn is better for scourge whelpling. Will the same be applied to Minfernal?
No changes to the Minfernal, we are happy with it's capture rate. Scourged whelp was way off, its similar to Minfernal now. (Source)

How much experience does an elite pet give (5.2) and can each individual boss (elite) pet be beaten once a day? Curious for leveling
They give standard XP but their daily quest has a much higher chance to drop a rare battle-stone. (Source)Ah cool so fables bag drops a pet and a stone (higher chance). If the fables bag can drop stones why doesn't the panda element bag?
Spirit tamers give a massive multiplier to XP on their daily's already, no need for the stone. (Source)

That's interesting. Each time an Elite Battle Pet is despawned, it spawns in as a different level. Bug? Still legendary quality though.
Different levels each time is a bug, fixed in next build. (Source)

So uh, stupid question but can multiple people battle an Elite Pet at the same time? Unlike Tamer teams, it despawns when you forfeit/lose.
Despawn on elite pets is a bug, fixed in next build to work like normal tamers. (Source)

Especially curious about Stunted Direhorn and Zandalari Hatchling. Figuring out if the raid pets come from mobs or bosses would be neat too.
Plan is to have bonus rolls work for raid boss pets. Currently 2 of those and one pet on raid trash. Currently plan is that they will drop as normal loot and on bonus rolls. Stunted Direhorn is not 5.2 anymore, most likely 5.3 at this point. We have a cool replacement though! That was just a scaled down direhorn, no wonder it looked good! Shooting for a custom model in 5.3.0 (Source)

Are battle pet collections intended to not transfer to the PTR? Very tough to test if we have to start from scratch on the PTR.
We currently do not have tech to move pets with characters since the pets are account based. We would like to solve this as well. (Source)

Any chance of seeing that Chain Pet Leash from the MoP beta again? Some of my pets are too... Aggressive for a rope one
Never went away, it's still in the pet rewards bag from daily's. (Source) - (As far as we know, it is not actually in the bags anymore)

Are Flawless Battle-Stones supposed to change the breed of a pet to a random one when upgrading?
No, only affects quality. (Source)

Are epic battle stones planned to be implemented in 5.2? I didn't think they were, but I've seen a couple people think otherwise.
Nope, holding off on those a bit longer still. They will come along with epic pets at the same time most likely. (Source)

Will it be possible to get the new pets in LFR - for example son of animus and living sandling. It'd sure give me a lot of incentive
Yup, they are in all difficulties, including LFR. (Source)

Will we ever see skin-updates for old mounts, like we did with Gryphons and Wyverns? They look amazing! *Imagines Kodo like that*
Always a chance if we have a good place to use them. (Source)

Drop rates on the new world boss mounts be more reasonable in 5.2?
They will be the same as previous. (Source)

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

ClassesI feel that classes have been boiled down over the years. I'd like to see more crazy incorporated into classes! #GhostlyStrike
Me too. Class diversity is typically the enemy of class balance. Both are important though! (Source)

Love how all mage specs are competitive. Need the same with locks, sick and tired of playing aff in PVE!
Mages disagree that they are all competitive. (Source)

However MM is used as rarely - only to see that it still cant pull the weight.
I'm quite torn on how to fix multiple DPS specs. We used to think that a 5% delta was okay, but players still pick the highest. (Source)

More class/spec differentiation/flavor. Better UI/visualization of spells/buffs. Even more story and alliance wins
Theoretically, how to add class differentiation without making X mandatory in small groups? Very tough for us to solve. (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Can I have more than 1 dk per server since they aren't a hero class anymore?
We agree that limitation probably isn't necessary any longer. (Source)

I mean Dks are just destroyed in PVP right now. I will pay for 10 mins of your time if you hear me out...seriously
Destroyed by whom? Warriors and mages who are getting nerfed (more) in 5.2? (Source)

Figured I'd try asking again but is the way HB gets spammed by Frost DW in both single target and aoe considered fine by devs?
We think it's borderline. Seems unfair to tell warriors they can't use WW single target but then let DKs do it. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)resto druid can do nothing except hot,hot and hot.Do you think druid is designed using hot at all time?
Ideally a lot of hots, but not 100%. (Source)

What do you feel is the hardest healer to pvp balance? When I think about hots my mind hurts so Id say druids.
Over the course of all expansions, I'd say druids. It's the combo of hots + shifting + Cyclone. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)On Mages. Was increased mana regen from Tier6 talents a good choice? It only affects Arcane, making it "double dib" on them.
On the whole, we're not sure. They are probably too focused on Arcane at the expense of Fire and Frost. (Source)

Greg do you think its possible to honestly get frostbolt back to Wrath stages? putting it on FoF and reduce cast time? please.
Not crazy about reducing cast times on anything, but as you can see, we're still trying out various FoF design on PTR. (Source)

Do you not think Scorch was mana management? What do you think we were using it for, our health?
Isn't that the defense you could offer of any loophole? "I liked this, because it let me get around limitations." (Source)We offer nothing but using talents to our advantage, which is what they r there for, no? It's not our fault, you made it.
If the Scorch rotation is just that much fun, we could nerf Arcane DPS instead to account for being at 6 stacks so often. (Source)
It's totally not your fault. Not sure where that is coming from. It's still our responsibility to fix it. (Source)You made the tree and scorn us for using it to our advantage? Shame on you. We r suppose to manage mana right?
So under that logic if you found a way to keep your crit rate at 100% and we fixed it, that is scorning you? (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Please consider making Divine purpose baseline. Even if it has a lower proc chance it would help sustained damage.
We heard from a lot of paladins who hated DP. A talent seemed like a good solution. (Source)no paladin in their right mind would complain about divine purpose, a free 3 paladin proc come on?
They did. It wasn't the free power -- it was the unprecitability of the rotation. (Source)

Why is Holy Radiance costing 21.6k Mana when you removed Judgement of the Pure and Replenishment
Because LoD and WoG are free. (Source)

Hey I was wondering if there was way to look into bringing back Seal of Command as another seal option. Rets want it back.
What it would do? It's hard enough getting them to use the 3-4 they have. (Source)SoJ proc from judgement = actully usable. SoT damage increase is needed. Its a dps loss even in wind lord.
You're using SoR or SoJ on a single target? (Source)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)cont. Why not cap it (Divine Aegis) at 40%, but allow larger single heals to create larger shields?
Yeah potentially. It's largely a problem that using all AEs reigns supreme in 25s but single targets are great for 10s. (Source)

Holy PVP- should it be viable? Any comment on the current low number of healer priests (both holy and disc) on all ladders?
Easier to balance. Easier to learn. But that's small consolation for the guy who loves his non-traditional PvP spec. (Source)
We struggle with this question a lot. You can argue that PvP would be better for many players with fewer specs than 34. (Source)

stop being lazy and remake the priests 90 set of talents..Mechanics like halo shouldnt even be in the game.. rest is just bad.
Those usually aren't the talents we hear much complaining about. (Source)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)New and existing players are going to choose classes that fit their playstyle AND give them options. Rogues only do one thing.
Do you really think it's a ranged vs melee thing? Many DPS shaman e.g. don't swap Enh to Ele all the time. Pure vs hybrid? (Source)

Do you think there might be just a bit too much passive damage going on with rogues now? That's what personally turned me off.
To use FPS terms, the high auto+poison damage keeps rogues feeling like an SMG instead of a shotgun. Maybe time for a change? (Source)if you're going to use fps terms don't you think a rogue should be more like a sniper rather than a shotgun
Snipers have very low ROF though. They also tend to be complained about in FPS for the same reasons - uncounterable burst. (Source)in most games sniping takes more skill, which makes the good players not mind its extra power
You and I read different FPS forums. (Source)

While I'm quite happy with how my rogue plays (I roll assassination), the analogy you make is pretty spot-on.
And I'm not saying the SMG feel is a bad design. Watching bars chew away quickly can be entertaining too. Diversity is good. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)GC do you think arms rotation feels a little too unpredictable? I understand fury being unpredictable but why arms?
The 5.2 change to Taste for Blood removes one source of RNG. Sudden Death will still provide a break from monotony. (Source)

On PTR, Taste for Blood comes at level 20, but Overpower at level 30. Kind of hard to use TfB without the ability it procs
They should both be level 20. Did you roll a new warrior for PTR? (Source)

your work isn't done, my rogue can still go 100-0 in shockwave
What are the sources of the damage being used to kill you in those 4 sec? (Source)you seriously need a screenshot?my rogue in ful mal died in shockwave today on arena, just warrior,druid was CCd
How long do you think you should be able to live? How many sec should it take someone to kill you? (Source)honestly we don't know. We leave that to you.
The complaint was that 4 sec of stun was too short. I'm just trying to establish expectations here. 6 sec? 10? 30? (Source)

Just tried Arms on the PTR. V. Boring. Needs another proc/dot/thing to track. MS>OP>OP>Slam+CS is just dull. Needs salt.
Are you sure you're Slamming at the right time? It shouldn't always follow dual OPs AFAIK. (Source)It feels unfinished, uninspired, bland, it needs another button to press, another mechanic, something else, a random element.
The random element is what many warriors didn't like. Fury can be more about unpredictability (which fits). (Source)

as projected, in pvp, second wind is ticking at 2,000 health a second.LOL want warrs in pvp you say? then you fail, hard.
Warrior success in PvP shouldn't hinge on a single mandatory talent. (Source)you may have caused 1 warrior out there to actually try the other 2 talents on that tier in MOP. quit ur job.
What you are saying then is that Second Wind is still too powerful compared to the others? (Source)

people complain about warrior cd stacking. Maybe that's the problem with their burst?
War Banner and Recklessness play well together, but we've heard fewer complaints since trinket and TfB changes. (Source)

PvEthe ilvl requirements for 5.2 LFR = too high, especially w/out new 5 mans. Running 5.2 dailies for weeks for new gear = no fun
What about 5.0 LFR? There are 5 you can run a week. (Source)

What is with the 1 hr.+ long DPS queues for LFR?
Typically, it's not enough healers queuing. (Source)

however, the Asian special version iLV for 25-raids really forced Asian players feel to switch to 25s over an over again
Asian players overwhelmingly told us they liked having dual lockouts. In EU and NA some love it, some hate it. (Source)

Too many times I'm in LFR where 1/3 of the healers are in dps spec and dpsing, leaving us with 3 healers. How to stop this?
There are 2 issues. One, we don't have an offspec LFR loot system yet. Two, the fights don't often need that much healing. (Source)

I've been playing mmo since UO beta. Your idea ruins my enjoyment. You guys can do heroic mode. Leave 10m for casual
The reason we went to 10s being equal for progression is because so many players asked us to. How to rectify that? (Source)

Tears of boredom is all we have from Galleon. Waiting hours in hopes of his spawn isn't a challenge. It's stupid.
Which is why the 5.2 boss will be different. (Source)

I have a concern regarding the tag 5.2 World Bosses. Won't players just wait for a guild to get a boss to 5% and hit it?
For the Sha equivalent, does anyone care? For the Galleon equivalent... just try it. (Source)

what happened to 7 dungeon runs per week for valor, can we have this back instead of having to daily for 80 valor?
Old model: 7 per week but 8th useless. New model, 1 a day then as many as you want for less. (Source)Strongly prefer 7x/wk. Can't play weekdays much, like to grind on weekends. Its was fun for me in cata
You can still do that. The runs after the first still give valor. It's not the most efficient way possible, but totally works. (Source)

it's something only HC raiders (a minority of the raiders) would say, or someone with more time than skill.
HC raiders tend to do content anyway. It's more casual raiders who drop out if rewards and prestige are lacking. (Source)Really? Often when i read forums i think its hc raiders who leave the game if they did the content.
They might complain about the loss of their prestige, but it typically doesn't stop them from raiding. For less HC, it does. (Source)

For my groups and myself, we cleared mech. The instance was short (important), relatively easy (important), (1/2)
Players who went to Pathaleon weren't the problem. (Source)

1h & 2h Strength weapons drop from the same bosses while Caster and Agi weapons were spread out, any reason for this?
Not really. We just try to keep loot from always falling into a predictable pattern. (Source)

PvPI have pvp gear stashed in the bank from Sha which I don't use because I don't pvp.
That's okay. Hopefully there are some players who look at a couple of PvP pieces and decide to give it a try. (Source)

The problem for PVP is you listen to 1500 players. Balance for 2.2, or wherever the T2 cutoff is if its changed
Aren't you kind of saying that unskilled players don't deserve a fun game? Or are they just too ignorant to grasp issues? (Source)

I'm reading the 5.2 PTR notes, and it looks like monks are going to be like DK's in season 5... Your thoughts?
We hope not, but monks are so absent from PvP right now that we fear the solutions need to be dramatic, not subtle. (Source)

Do you think your entire defensive toolkit should have counters? I truly believe that's where paper vs practice affects ret.
Yes! Why would it be fair to have things with no counter at all? (Source)

CC DRs, pvp power, and class burst CDs all need to be heavily looked at. Is it going to be 6.0 before these issues are fixed?
We've made DR changes and burst changes in 5.2. What needs to change about PvP Power? Be specific if you want us to discuss it. (Source)

Please tell me that there's a global resilience buff coming in 5.2? PVP damage is actually absurd (_ALL_ classes/specs).
We don't think damage is too high, just a few outliers. Q: How long should it take to kill someone? How long does it take now? (Source)

I don't think they're too complex, but macro'ing is integral to any class' peak performance (rightfully, imo).
Yeah it's pretty hard to be optimal in PvP without macros for any class, but I'm not sure that's something we need to fix. (Source)

CharacterHello Mr. Street. Isn't that unfair that all old PvP art is unavailable to PvE players while all old PvE art is to PvP'ers?
All old art isn't available to anyone. We eventually allow access to more and more, just not all immediately. (Source)

Just come up with a mechanic that allows people with mains to catch up faster on their alts.
It's just balance. Playing alts had entertained a lot of players for years. Too much streamlining risks removing that gameplay. (Source)I like the idea of leveling a toon and being able to swap classes. (A la FFXI) and more invested more returned.
It's an interesting discussion of when it's okay for players to not have to level a second character. (Source)

Wait, so it's ok to make us burn out by running the same content for months? Bad drops? No drops? ICC anyone?
It's a balance. Finishing a raid in 2 weeks (because you have all the loot) is as lame as grinding it for 8 months. (Source)

Ghostcrawler, please answer this question..
On letting players only level once? It's a big discussion. How important or interesting is leveling after the first time? (Source)

V. of the A- any chance the 1k VP trigger could be obtained on multiple characters to spread the load, instead of just one?
Problem with that is now you should constantly swap characters to benefit from "first of the day" bonuses and not play your main. (Source)

Hey Greg! With talents and Glyph being easy to apebt and change, want reason do you use to defende duel spec? as in more spec
Maybe it's time for more than two specs? (Source)

You removed helm enchants because they were 'mandatory'. Why add item upgrades which make capping valor 'mandatory'?
Helm enchants had one source. Valor has many. (Source)

How come we cant put MOP LFR and tier items in Void storage? (not upgraded)
At the moment, it would strip the upgrades from the items. We are fixing it for 5.2 and you can use Void Storage on them as expected. (Source)

So then what you are considering is to get all secondary stats very close in value and remove hit/exp?
Or keep reforging, but axe hit/exp from the game. Choosing haste vs. crit is less mathy and more (though not 100%) about style. (Source)

Many players actually enjoy playing with the reforge feature. If its not fun for you, dont use it.
Can you explain what's fun about it for you? In my experience, many players use a spreadsheet etc. to make the decisions for them. (Source)

Would it be technically difficult to let us choose reforging amounts? E.g. only reforging 122 hit instead of the maximum 187
We've discussed that as a potential solution too. (Source)

About transmog in 5.2, why we can't transmog 2h sword into spear or staff is becos of tech problem? pleaz answer my question.
We have answered this and it is because the animations use what the weapon really is, not what it looks like. (Source)Surely you must have programmers who can make it work? Players care about these things, more than you might think
Of course they do. At the end of the day there are only so many of us. We hire people whenever we find good ones though. (Source)

I call BS. "Increase" is paltry compared to multiple gifts; I encounter multiple Bling's a day.
BC that wasn't the reason. It felt like work to log in 10 alts to maximize a Bling appearance. It made something fun not fun. (Source)

MiscYou can also LFR with friends. I do it often.
Yes, that is a good point. Anything with friends in WoW is good. (Source)

Also: If Discovery and newness goes so well, why are you afraid of making radical changes between expansions?
"Even if the design is better now, I don't want to have to relearn my class." Don't see on the forums a lot, but very common. (Source)
We lose a lot of players who say they couldn't keep up the rate of change. (Source)

Ever consider talking one-on-one in-depth with players about game design, just to bounce around ideas and brainstorm? Curious.
Yeah, I love stuff like that. Figuring out a medium and not causing excluded players to feel excluded are the challenges. (Source)

"and we don't care anyway." makes me feel im losing my time here.
Context FTW. We don't care if a "silent majority" agrees with you. We care about the strength of your argument or feedback. (Source)

Devil's advocate: people don't like working harder, even in "gimme content", when they don't have to.
I do really inefficient things in some games so long as they're fun. I think it's an MMO phenomenon: the fear of being wrong. (Source)

Sites like noxxic, EJ, IV and you'll see the benefit we TC's bring. Look at the wow forums, what benefits do the whiners bring
Humor me. How does theorycrafting make the game more fun (excluding the people who enjoy geeking out on the numbers)? (Source)

Ah, crap. This is probably going to cement my reputation as a apologist. http://t.co/kmXn3xqM
I get that Twitter has huge limits. Still, it allows me to reach more player than forums did, w/out the "manifesto" problem. (Source)How about something that's kindof like Twitter which doesn't allow long questions but does allow long answers?
I don't really have time for long answers. That's the problem. (Source)

But my tweets can come across as harsh or blunt. I get that. Not sure of the right solution. (Source)It's the limit of characters. No space left to be very polite. It's the system, not us.
Agreed. So maybe players could stop imagining words that aren't actually there? (Source)

Any suggestions for ways to help devs? Forum posts? Compilations of posts? Twitter? Going to HQ and demanding chngs?
I would suggest tweets for short, simple things, and succinct forum posts for more in-depth discussions. (Source)

Not to mention cannibalizing on the guild behind you in progression will be back with a vengeance.
Why does the community often leap from one extreme to the other? Just because it's not 100 degrees out doesn't mean it's 0 degrees. (Source)why does blizzard make balance changes from one extreme to another.
Any examples? I feel most of our balance changes are pretty modest. They are often 10 to 20% swings. (Source)You wiped out all talents, made new ones. Thats like a 100% swing. Ring of Frost is a talent, LOL!
Okay, though we didn't do that for balance reasons per se, but because the old talent system was kind of dumb. (Source)When you made the Talent build before MoP you said it was an important change for the better, and now you say it was dumb?
Look back at our comments. We tried to fix the talent design in Cataclysm. It helped, but not enough. You guys deserve better. (Source)

How hard would it be to take several of the best players that have "credibility" and just make the changes they agree on?
How on Earth would you identify those players? (Source)

it's very dissapointing going on to WOL and seeing cn players ahead of me with higher gear then we can obtain unfair?
It's hard to compare. They waited a long time for LK and Cataclysm while your ilevels were ahead of theirs. (Source

Customer Support Web Chat
Blizzard has finally added the option to use chat for customer support, rather than having to call!

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker)

Need live support? Customer Support now offers a live web chat option as an alternative to calling us so we can assist you as efficiently as possible. This exciting new option allows you to contact us, chat directly with a helpful representative, upload needed files, and resolve your issue quickly and efficiently -- all on Battle.net!

Select the game or product you require assistance with and fine-tune your search with the options presented.

Your search will provide you with helpful support articles to resolve your issue. If available, you will have the option to contact us by ticket, through our live web chat, or by phone.

Note: Web chat and phone support availability vary based on issue type and hours of operation.

Why is Web Chat not available for my issue?
Web chat is available for all issues we can assist with in that format. We want to make sure we address your issue completely the first time, and this new system allows us to better help you. If web chat is not the best way to resolve the issue, the option will not be presented.

Where did the phone number go?
If you have an issue that requires a phone call, the system will provide you with our contact number. We want to provide all the tools necessary for you to resolve your issue without calling us – no one likes to wait for an answer!

The button for my desired live contact option is grey. What does this mean?Phone: Our phone lines are currently closed or our phone queues are full.Web Chat: Web Chat is currently closed or all agents are busy. Please try again in a few minutes.

"You made the tree and scorn us for using it to our advantage? Shame on you. We r suppose to manage mana right?
So under that logic if you found a way to keep your crit rate at 100% and we fixed it, that is scorning you? "

Wow Greg is as bad as Jay Wilson. They openly told everyone Arcane was intended for managing mana and that's what people are doing. There is no tree where keeping 100% crit rate was announced as intended so that analogy is just terrible.

Just curious. Does anyone else have issues with 'crazy monster helms'? I miss being able to see my characters face without having to entirely disable my helm. The monk helm is awesome. I can see eyes. This is a plus. It makes it look like there's actually something in there.

why does blizzard make balance changes from one extreme to another.
Any examples? I feel most of our balance changes are pretty modest. They are often 10 to 20% swings. (Source)

And 20% isn´t a huge swing? I´d give Glyph of dark succor + DS being made pretty much useless for PvP for frost + UH in 1 change as an example. That was pretty big.

Boomkins nuke (can´t remember name, the one that could pop as instant casts) was also castrated due to PvP while mages were shatter comboing people no problem. Seem to remember the Bommie spell took quite the hit.

All of the moonkin changes so far are minimal. They nerfed starfall and have decided to fix it again in 5.2 so that balanc has something on the board. When asked if Moonkins were being ignored, the reply was 'Ignored is a term we forgot about expansions ago'. That was in Novemeber.

Rogue set looks a little bland, in my honest opinion, and kinda shaman-ish where it isn't. I kinda like the white one though, it looks a little like Assassin's Creed.

---------- Post added 2013-01-21 at 06:37 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Melilithia

Dear Blizzard; just use the new model for all of the Frogs. They looks absolutely TERRIBLE, currently.

Agreed. Use the new model, make a new skin for each color frog.

In my honest opinion, they should be treating mounts and pets the same as mobs. When they get a new, updated model (like the gryphon or wyvern) share it with the rest, with a previously unavailable skin color as the new reward (Like maybe a saddled Black Gryphon?).